WHO Sending 1 Million Cholera Vaccine Doses To Haiti As Cases Surge

Around 200 cases have been reported in the wake of the deadly Hurricane Matthew.

Carlos Garcia Rawlins / Reuters
A victim of cholera receives treatment at the state hospital after Hurricane Matthew, in Jeremie, Haiti, on Sunday.

GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that it was sending 1 million doses of cholera vaccine to Haiti, where cases of the killer disease have climbed in the wake of Hurricane Matthew.

“The top priority for those people affected by the hurricane is to give them access to clean water. That is the only way we can control cholera,” Dominique Legros, WHO cholera expert, told a news briefing before traveling to the Caribbean country.

Some 150 suspected cholera cases have been reported in Grand’Anse department and 50 in South department, he said. “It is more than usual, I know it is a sharp increase compared to usual figures.”

WHO was considering giving people a single dose of the vaccine rather than the classic double dose, to cover more people, albeit it with a shorter protection period, Legros said.